Search
Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 1:3-7; 3:15-16; 2:2; 4:7-8; 6:3, 11; 2 Tim. 3:12
We all need to learn to have no concepts in the Lord’s recovery. Our only concept should be Christ. We need to allow Christ to saturate our being, occupy our being, and replace all our concepts. This is not easy. The young people may not say much in the meetings, but their talk outside the meetings shows that they are full of concepts. Not long after I was saved as a young person, I came into the church life. The first lesson the Lord taught me in the church life was that we need to have no concepts and care only for Christ and the church. We need to learn to drop our concepts and care only for Christ in everything. In our daily life, our marriage life, our family life, our school life, and especially our church life, the solution to every problem is Christ. In our “dictionary” there is only one word, Christ, with a footnote, and the church. If we care only for Christ and the church, we will be under the Lord’s blessing and on the line of His economy every day, always enjoying life, peace, and grace. In our private talk, in our prayer, and in the meetings, we should speak of nothing but Christ and the church.
In this chapter we will consider two terms found in the two Epistles to Timothy: God’s economy and godliness. We will first consider the term God’s economy. The word economy is commonly used today as a financial term. The biblical word economy refers to a dispensing administration, an administration that dispenses something into people (1 Tim. 1:4). In a kindergarten class at a certain time every day there is an administration to dispense a snack to every child; this is a dispensing administration. The word economy is the anglicized form of the Greek word oikonomia, which denotes an administration or stewardship to dispense something. In ancient times large, wealthy families had a steward to take care of the family affairs. The stewardship was an administration mainly for dispensing things to the members of the family.
God has a great family. All His chosen people are the members of His family, His children. Second Timothy 2:20 says that God has a great house. In His great house, His great family, there is a stewardship. Paul was entrusted with this stewardship, as were all the other apostles (1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2; Col. 1:25). Those who minister the word to the children of God today also have a part in this stewardship. Thus, the stewardship is the New Testament ministry. In the New Testament there is only one ministry, and this ministry is the stewardship in God’s house, that is, the divine administration to dispense something to God’s chosen people. What is being dispensed is simply God Himself in His Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In God’s economy, His household administration, the Triune God is being dispensed into His children. In God’s house there is a stewardship, an administration, to dispense the Triune God into us. The Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit reaches us. In this way the Triune God is being dispensed into all His chosen people. This is the definition of God’s economy.
The word godliness is used nine times in these two Epistles (1 Tim. 2:2; 3:16; 4:7-8; 6:3, 5-6, 11; 2 Tim. 3:5). Also, the word godly occurs twice (1 Tim. 2:10; 2 Tim. 3:12), and the word ungodliness is used once (2:16). Therefore, godliness is an important word. However, very few Christians know that the proper definition of the term godliness is God manifested in the flesh, or the manifestation of God in the flesh. This definition is based on 1 Timothy 3:16, which says, “Confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh, / Justified in the Spirit, / Seen by angels, / Preached among the nations, / Believed on in the world, / Taken up in glory.” Verse 15 says that the church is the house of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. Verse 16 indicates that the church is God manifested in the flesh, or the manifestation of God in the flesh. Some may think that to say that the church is God manifested in the flesh is heretical. Most Bible scholars do not realize that 1 Timothy 3:16 reveals that the mystery of godliness is God manifested in the church; they think that this verse refers only to Christ. However, because taken up in glory is the last phrase in verse 16, it must refer not only to Christ’s ascension but also to the church’s rapture, for Christ’s ascension preceded His being preached among the nations. This proves that God’s being manifested in the flesh refers not only to Christ but also to the church, His Body.
If the head is something, the body must be the same thing. Christ, the Head, is the manifestation of God in the flesh; therefore, the church, His Body, also must be the manifestation of God in the flesh. First Corinthians 14:24-25 says that when the church is meeting properly, if an unbeliever enters, he will say, “Indeed God is among you.” Whenever the church comes together properly, God’s presence is there — God is manifested in the flesh.
In 1 Timothy 3:16 the manifestation of God in the flesh is called the mystery of godliness. Godliness is a mystery because it is real and living yet invisible. When unbelievers come into a church meeting, they may consider it to be quite mysterious, not understanding why a group of people are singing, shouting, and giving testimonies concerning their personal experiences. Some relatives of the saints have asked them, “Why do you go to that meeting place several times every week, always on time and always for several hours? What is there? Is there some entertainment?” Many unbelievers do not understand this mystery, but often when people come into a meeting, they realize that God is there. The church is God manifested in the flesh, the mystery of godliness.
In brief, God’s economy is God coming into us, and godliness is God going out of us. Hallelujah for such a heavenly, divine traffic! The Christian life is simply God coming in and God going out. This traffic goes on hour by hour. In the Lord’s recovery our church life, our daily life, and our family life are simply God coming in and God going out all day. This traffic may be likened to an electrical current in a circuit, which is electricity constantly coming and going. We have a divine current among us and within us; it is the Triune God coming in and going out. God coming in is God’s economy, and God going out is godliness.
From our youth we need to learn not to teach things that are different from God’s economy. Paul charged Timothy to remain in Ephesus with the sole purpose of charging certain ones not to teach different things (1:3). We should always teach God’s coming in and God’s going out and nothing else. We should not teach different things, such as how long our hair should be or whether or not we should go to certain places. This kind of teaching will produce questionings and stir up disputations (v. 4). We need to teach God’s economy.
All the saints need to learn the things of God’s economy, not only for the sake of their own experience but also in order to be able to teach others in an accurate way. They also need to learn how to teach. A newly saved young person may ask us, “What is your opinion about going to movies? Before I was saved, the movies were my second life; I could not live without seeing at least one movie a week. Now I have heard some saints say that we should not go to movies and others say that we should be liberated to go to the movies. Please tell me whether I should go to a movie or not.” We should answer this new one by saying, “In 1 Timothy 1:3-4 Paul says that we should not teach things that are different from God’s economy. We should not care for these kinds of concepts, which produce questions. Rather, we need to take care of God’s economy, which is the dispensing of the Triune God into us. Now that you are saved, you have the Triune God within you. The Father is in you, the Son is in you, and the Spirit is in you. You should forget about movies. It is not movies that abide in you; it is the Triune God. We are not saved for movies or for anything other than our Triune God. Now that the Triune God is in you, you do not need to ask me. Instead, you can ask the Triune God within you, ‘O God, would You like to go to a movie? If You go, I will go. If You do not go, even though movies were my second life, I will not go, because I love You and because I love to be one with You. I love to live with You.’”
After receiving such an answer, the young person may reply, “This morning I prayed in this way, asking the Lord to tell me whether or not to go to a movie. The more I prayed, the more it seemed that He did not want to go.” We could then ask, “How do you know that the Lord did not want to go?” The new one may answer, “When I considered going, something within was silent. However, when I considered not going, something within was joyful.” We should fellowship with people in this way.
A newly saved young sister may ask another sister concerning the proper length of hair for a sister. The sister should answer her, “We are not saved in order to have a certain length of hair. Hair is not our Savior. We have been saved for Christ, and Christ today is the life-giving Spirit. He is now dispensing Himself into our being.” This kind of teaching should be prevailing among all the saints. Such teaching has been ministered among us for many years, but it is not often heard in our daily talk. We read this teaching in the ministry books, but afterward we do not apply what we read. In our daily talk we argue concerning things such as the proper length of hair. We need to change our vain talk and nonsensical gossip into talk about God’s economy. Regardless of the question that is raised, we should give only one answer — God’s economy. The Bible teaches God’s economy, which is God’s stewardship, the dispensing of God into us. God’s economy, which issues in godliness, should be the unique topic of our fellowship.
If the saints in the churches, both old and young, will restrict their fellowship to God’s economy, the church life will be enriched and uplifted. We need to learn to make God’s economy our daily talk, applying all the messages we hear and read to our daily life. Even in our family life we should discuss God’s economy, God’s dispensing of Himself into our being.
Godliness is God manifested in our flesh. First Timothy 2:2 says that we need to lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness. The kind of pictures we hang in our bedroom may indicate whether or not we care for godliness in our private life. The pictures we choose may manifest God to others, or they may manifest something else. We can apply the same principle to hundreds of things in our daily life. For instance, going to a movie does not manifest God to others; rather, it produces questions in others about our character. Likewise, going to a bar, even if it is to preach the gospel, will not give others an impression of godliness; rather, it will cause us to lose our testimony. This is not merely an outward matter. If we kneel down to pray in our bedroom while a certain kind of picture is hanging on the wall, we may immediately have a sense to rise up and throw it away. There is no need for anyone to tell us to take it down. Because the Triune God has been dispensed into us in His economy, we may have a sense from within that He is not happy as long as that picture is hanging on our wall. This is godliness, not a doctrine. Likewise, if we go to a bar, the next morning we will have difficulty praying because the Triune God who has been dispensed into us does not agree with our going to a bar. This is not an outward regulation but an inward reality. As children of God, regardless of our age or status, we all have the reality of the Triune God within us. This is godliness.
If a brother tries to speak the word of God while wearing a showy tie, he may lose the anointing of the Spirit within, and the saints who are listening to him may be distracted by the tie. Wearing such a tie, therefore, cannot be godliness, God manifested in the flesh. These are not insignificant matters. My burden is not to give regulations concerning the kind of ties we should wear or concerning anything else. Rather, we need to see that whatever we do, whatever we are, and whatever we wear should give others an impression of godliness.
Another practical area in which we should lead a life in all godliness is our conversations. The words out of our mouth should give others the impression of God being manifested in the flesh. We should not allow loose talk and gossip to come into the church life. We must exercise our spirit to reject such talk, which does not bear any impression of God being manifested in our flesh.
Even in the small things, we need to lead a life in all godliness. When deciding whether or not to buy a certain pair of shoes, we should not consider the style first. Rather, we need to consider whether God could be manifested in this pair of shoes. This is my practice. If we choose the hairstyle of a movie star, when others see us, they will be impressed with the movie star, not with God. Our hairstyle should give others the impression of godliness. If we choose a worldly hairstyle, we will not have any impact on the barber if we try to preach the gospel to him. If a barber proposes a new worldly hairstyle to a young brother, but the young brother asks instead for a common hairstyle, the barber may ask why he has made this choice. Thus, the brother’s testimony opens up a way for him to say a few words concerning the Lord Jesus and gives impact to what he says. The barber may initially argue with him, but something will impress the barber within. Perhaps he will wake up that night and consider the testimony of the young brother. The Holy Spirit will then speak to him. This is the proper way to preach the gospel. We do not merely preach the gospel; we live it. As branches of Christ, we live the vine and grow the vine. We preach the gospel by our daily living. This is godliness.
We need to lead a life in all godliness, not only in certain things, such as coming to the meetings, singing, praising, and testifying, but everywhere and in everything. A famous Christian minister in the late 1800s once purchased and moved into a new house. Once he had arranged everything and decorated the house, he invited his father to come to see his new house. After his father had looked in every room, he said that everything was nice but that he did not see anything indicating that the house’s owner was a child of God. What we display in our home should strongly impress others with godliness. Godliness is not merely an outward matter. The word manifested in 1 Timothy 3:16 indicates that godliness is an inward life with an outward expression. In order for God to be manifested in the flesh, godliness needs to be expressed in our whole living. Whatever we say, express, do, and wear should give an impression of God being manifested in us. If we practice to lead a life in all godliness, we will not go to certain places or attend certain events. Godliness would not allow us to touch unclean things; rather, godliness will separate us from all ungodly things.
First Timothy 4:7-8 says, “Exercise yourself unto godliness. For bodily exercise is profitable for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the present life and of that which is to come.” Bodily exercise is necessary; Paul did not say that it is not profitable. However, many sports today go beyond the realm of health into the realm of showing how capable and skillful one is. Rivalry, pride, and other sinful things are found in sports. We need to exercise our bodies for the sake of our health, but we should not do this in the realm of making a show.
We need to consider what it means to exercise ourselves unto godliness. Regrettably, even in the Lord’s recovery many saints do not exercise themselves unto godliness. One way to exercise ourselves unto godliness is to show the proper reverence when reading the Bible. This is not to be old-fashioned or legal. If a new brother comes to ask an older brother a spiritual question and sees him reading the Bible while carelessly lying on the floor with his feet on the sofa, the new believer may doubt whether this brother is the right one to answer his question. Surely, this is not godliness; reading the Bible with improper posture or attire would never give others the impression that God is manifested in us. On the other hand, if a new believer sees a more mature believer kneeling before an open Bible, praying and reading, the new believer may receive much help without even asking a question. The new believer will be impressed with the other’s respect, fear, and love of God. This is godliness, God manifested in the flesh. Even when no one sees us, we need to exercise ourselves unto godliness when reading the Bible, for it is the word of our heavenly Father.
Another way to exercise ourselves unto godliness is to be restricted in our speaking. We need to learn to express godliness when we speak to others. Whether they are believers or unbelievers, our speech should show them that we are not loose and lawless without any restraint but that we love God and have a holy fear of God. Nothing has a greater impact on others than our speaking. If we preach the gospel to an unsaved family member, but we speak in a light and loose way at other times, this family member will not be impressed that what we are preaching is truly meaningful. However, if we learn to speak by exercising ourselves unto godliness, always speaking with accuracy and sobriety, the family member will gradually receive an impression that we are truly different. Eventually, he will be convinced by our way of speaking and will be brought to the Lord. This is to exercise ourselves unto godliness.
We need to exercise ourselves unto godliness in everything — in small things and in great things. We need to exercise our bodies, but we should exercise ourselves unto godliness even as we are exercising our bodies. The way we exercise can give others an impression of godliness. We need to exercise ourselves unto godliness in considering what to wear while exercising.
The church does not have any regulations concerning the kind of clothes we should wear, but if a young sister stands up in a meeting to share a testimony of how she has been revived and has consecrated herself to Christ and the church, yet she is not properly covered by her clothing, the saints may wonder if God has truly been dispensed into her. They may think that God’s economy is only a doctrine to her and is not her experience. This is not a matter of morality but a matter of godliness. Testifying before the church while wearing improper attire will not give any of the saints an impression of godliness; they will not see God manifested in us. What we wear is one of hundreds of areas in which we need to exercise ourselves unto godliness.
Sometimes our shouting in the meetings may be overstepping the line. In a race all the runners must run within their own lanes. If a runner runs out of his lane, he is overstepping. Even in shouting in the meeting, we must stay within our “lane.” Some shouting gives people the impression not of godliness but of looseness or lawlessness. Shouting is not wrong, but whatever we do must be done without overstepping. Whether we are singing, shouting, or jumping, we should bear an impression of godliness. This requires our being exercised unto godliness.
Shopping is another area in which we need to exercise ourselves unto godliness. Window-shopping can lead to the indulgence of lust. If we are exercised unto godliness, we will turn our eyes away from certain things. What we buy shows others the kind of person we are.
We also need to exercise ourselves unto godliness in our correspondence with other saints. By being restrained, accurate, and in fear of God when passing on church news, we can show care for the edification of others.
First Timothy 6:3-5 says, “If anyone teaches different things and does not consent to healthy words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching which is according to godliness, he is blinded with pride, understanding nothing, but is diseased with questionings and contentions of words, out of which come envy, strife, slanders, evil suspicions, perpetual wranglings of men corrupted in mind and deprived of the truth, supposing godliness to be a means of gain.” Paul’s word here is strong. We need to exercise ourselves unto godliness when we speak to others, being careful to speak healthy words. Healthy words supply life to others, but unhealthy words are full of death. We need to learn the lesson to exercise ourselves unto godliness in everything, but especially in the words we speak to others.
Second Timothy 3:12 says, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” We need to live godly and be ready to suffer for it. There will be suffering, but it is a joy for us to live godly.
